If you interview with them, don't expect the courtesy of any follow up reply. That's what happened to me. I desperately wanted the job, but none of my emails pleading to know that status of my application was ever answered. Incredibly rude and incredibly unprofessional.

Not surprizing. My good pal told me last year an excellent teacher had been offered a job and negotiations for salary, etc. were underway. The teacher was called back for another visit. Upon arrival, the teacher was rudely sent away after being told the position was no longer available. My pal said hearing about this was the final straw for him. He left.

There is no question that several excellent teachers have left because of the new throaty management. Last semester, one teacher left in December because they canceled some of her very successful courses which had been popular with students. This year more people are leaving. However, they are growing and at least a dozen new teachers are joining the program. You can be sure they will be closely observed. So my advice is to keep on your toes newbies.
Randy is probably the boss's sidekick.

Avoid this place until they get a new director. The current one is a big bully. He got rid of as many teachers as he could so that most of the teachers left or the new ones coming are the ones he has handselected for kow-towing. Bully by name and bully by nature. Good job I've quit. Just back in Qatar to pick up my things and ship them out. Good luck to all the new suckers who are joining this place in August.

Avoid this place until they get a new director. The current one is a big bully. He got rid of as many teachers as he could so that most of the teachers left or the new ones coming are the ones he has handselected for kow-towing. Bully by name and bully by nature. Good job I've quit. Just back in Qatar to pick up my things and ship them out. Good luck to all the new suckers who are joining this place in August.

From what I know of the individual in question, I can only agree with mesquite. Has a well camouflaged but gigantic ego. Likes to appear scholarly but is actually a good ole boy, a born to rule type. Having said that, if you are the mousy type, you should be OK though. Flattery is also be a +.

Dr Miles Lovelace gives away a memento as Dr Shetha al-Numan looks on Qatar Foundation’s Academic Bridge Program (ABP) hosted an appreciation ceremony yesterday for organisations that sponsor its Qatari students and support its activities.
ABP director Dr Miles Lovelace and assistant director for student services and public relations Dr Shetha Faraj abbo al-Numan spoke.ABP aims to enhance high school graduates’ abilities and academic and personal potential, by providing training and guidance to qualify them for future university studies.“We had our record intake of 360 students,” Dr Lovelace said while adding that close to 250 has applied to Education City universities.In accordance with the ongoing collaboration strategies between ABP and the universities, ABP aims to guide its students to enrol in them.

The ABP also works with a number of top universities around the world, thereby providing its students with multiple opportunities for study in different fields.Qatari students are provided with scholarships, throughout their study at the ABP and later on throughout their university studies.
The sponsoring entities include the Emiri Guard, the Higher Education Institute, Qatar Petroleum, Qafco, Al Jazeera Children’s Channel, Qatar Olympic Committee, Qapco, RasGas, Kahramaa, IBQ, and Sidra Medical and Research Center.
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My pal who worked here for several years said he quit because of this man. They didn't get on. Another place that pumps and bumps so the best way to survive is to shut up. My friend was too outspoken.

On the note of native speaker. I am first generation Arab American. I've lived my whole life in the states. Although, I do speak albeit i'm basically illiterate in it, fluent Arabic. American is my native culture accent, and language. Do you think that might be seen as an advantage or disadvantage?

There are many Arab Americans teaching around the Gulf - mostly in content courses though - lots of professors. When applying for TEFL jobs, I would make it clear when you arrived there... (age?) some employers are stickier on the whole native speaker thing than others. Your Arabic speaking abilities tend to be strangely ignored by most employers... or it might be a positive at one employer and a negative at the next. Completely unpredictable... I would list it on the CV where we would normally list any foreign languages we have...

I wonder if the students would think that you are speaking "foreigner Arabic." My Palestinian friends are always dismayed at how terrible their American kids' Arabic is.

All of the schools at education city, including the ABP have Arabic speaking teachers, either from their homeland or naturalised Americans, Australians, etc. They look at credentials and qualifications, not ethnic origins. This is one of the places where there is very little ethnic bias.

The problem begins lower down the educational scale and it's time this was acknowledged. Tertiary institutions like the Gulag, ABP, HCCQ, QU etc. should not be blamed for students poor study skills and lack of basic knowledge. It is wrong and unfounded to put the blame on the teachers' backs. Students have been victims of so many different experiments in the last few years that it is no wonder they are suffering academically. Attitudes must change and all the secondary schools must be given a workable curriculum, not the few exclusive ones which cater to the brigher elements. Let the students master Arabic first so that they can think critically in their own language. Then they can transfer the knowledge.

Many struggle with English tests, says ABP director Thursday, 22 March 2012 03:58

DOHA: Many of the Academic Bridge Program (ABP) students find it challenging to achieve the scores required by the Education City universities at international standardised test of English language proficiency, according to an ABP official. “Even with our faculty’s best efforts and students’ hard work, many of the ABP students cannot achieve the TOEFL or IELTS scores required by the Education City universities,” Dr Miles Lovelace, Director ABP told The Peninsula.

The ABP provides high school graduates of Qatari and other schools, who meet the admission requirements, with the academic and personal skills for success in reputable English language universities around the world, with special emphasis on preparing students for the universities in Qatar Foundation’s Education City. It has a competitive admission process, which favours high school graduates who have earned an overall average of 80 percent or higher with an IELTS score of 5.0. Students with 4.5 IELTS score also may apply. “Most of our students have moderate to good speaking skills in English, but they are not able to do as well in reading or writing. In high schools, they have not been asked to read whole books, long articles, and essays or to critically analyse complex texts,” said Dr Lovelace. “In science, they have had very little actual laboratory experience and few can produce good lab reports based on observation, data collection, and analysis,” he added.

If a student enters with an IELTS of 4.5, it is nearly impossible in a one year program to reach the 6.5 to 8.0 IELTS scores wanted by the most demanding Education City universities. “Students thus have to accept admission to their second or even third choice of university. On average, about one third of our graduates obtain admission to one of the EC universities, about one third enroll at Qatar University, while the rest find other university admissions in the USA, UK or elsewhere,” said Dr Lovelace. However, he explained that the number of ABP graduates gaining admission to one of the Education City universities has been increasing each year for the past five years. In 2011 66 ABP students received 82 offers of admission to Education City universities out of 247 graduates. Nearly 90 percent of the 2011 graduating class has found admission to one or more colleges or universities after the ABP.

“It is quite clear that the admitted students are becoming stronger each year since the national reform movement began in Qatar. Each year, especially for the past five years, we have noted that our new students have better ability in both English and Math,” said Dr Lovelace.
The enrollment at the ABP has fluctuated from the first years in 2001 and 2002 when we started with about 200 students but graduated only about half of those who started the school year. Yet, since 2007, the number of annual applications has averaged close to 500 per year, for 300 vacancies. In 2011, the ABP was awarded five years accreditation by the Commission on English Language Accreditation agency.